Make Papa Proud
by BehindTheMasqueradeMask
Summary: "You keep 'em safe, yer 'ere me boy? Anything 'appens to 'em and I'll eat yer cowardly guts!" Three siblings find themselves in a group outside Atlanta, only, two of them can't even stand to be in the same area let alone in one group. Sometimes, it's family that pushes us too far...
1. Heat Is The Least Of Your Problems

**I've literally watched all of season one and two and I'm now halfway through season 3 of The Walking Dead...that is a lot to take in. **

**Okay, I realise I have joined The Walking Dead Bandwagon late, but I wasn't actually allowed to watch it until recently. I'm already hooked, I loved the game that telltale made, first game to actually make me cry when a character died, game wise anyway, and with Last Of Us following afterwards...how could I miss writing an apocalyptic story?**

**seriously, I love it already and I wish I had watched it sooner. So far, I gotta say that Daryl is my favourite, followed closely by Glenn, I had others, but yeah, it's the one show where I really don't want to have favourites because more likely or not they ain't gonna make it! I won't spoil, but honestly, I'm the one that has to catch up.**

**this isn't much, merely a side story and I know I really have to start writing on a different story, but I had this in my head and I had to write it down. It isn't much, if anything, but I plan to do more on it soon, as this is just a prologue.**

**disclaimer: I only own OCs.**

**with that done, on with the chapter...**

* * *

_I remember tears streaming down your face_

_When I said, "I'll never let you go"_

_When all those shadows almost killed your light_

_I remember you said, "Don't leave me here alone"_

_But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight_

_Taylor Swift (Ft. Civil Wars) ~ Safe And Sound_

* * *

Humid. It was always humid, even with the heavy rain pounding against the windows as it was that night, it was still the same suffocating heat that forced Tiffany Dolton to strip down to only a flimsy white nightgown. Her baby blue eyes refused to close as she stared at the ceiling, as she did most nights, the sweltering heat sizzling on her fair skin.

She always thought the heat wouldn't bother her, she was a Macon girl as her Papa always told her, heat was a part of life on the farmhouse. To be fair, her Papa told her a lot of things, things that she didn't think she needed to know.

Tiffany whined, roughly shifting onto her side, trying desperately to fall asleep as the loud rin drops slammed against the window opposite her bed. Everything seemed to be projected louder, be it the rain, her own heart beating...or her asshole brother snoring in the next room. The wood panels that separated the two rooms did neigh when it came to sound, her blue eyes snapping open to glare at the wood.

She refrained from slamming a fist against the wall, one because it would hurt her more than the wall, and two because Nathaniel would likely give her a clip behind the ear for waking him up. That was the annoying part of having an older brother, you had to grit and bear the stupidity, you could never just tell him because you were younger.

"Screw it." She whispered, taught severely to not say the f word alternative. She pushed herself off the bed and stumbled towards the front door, rubbing her eyes with the side of her arm, only to have moist sweat smear onto her face. She groaned at this, the sticky sweat making her nightgown cling to her body, making it even harder to walk around.

When she found herself in the long hallway leading to the other bedrooms, she had a brief moment of second thoughts. She never liked walking around at night, the hallway was never lit due to Papa saving the candles, but the old farmhouse creaked and whined like Nana used to.

But Tiffany was more scared of Papa in a bad mood than a few shadows.

She tiptoed to the room next door, extremely careful that she opened the door slowly as not to wake anybody. She bit her bottom lip as the door groaned, the pig snorts of her brother projected even louder. Tiffany tiptoed past his bed, one leg and one arm hung over the edge as he somehow tangled the cotton sheets around random parts of his unclothed body. She knew better than to look, Papa always said that a man's jewels was not for the eyes of a little missy like herself...though she didn't even know what it meant.

Instead, her little feet padded over to the other end of the room, nearly identical to her own, except this one held two lots of possessions and clothes. She knelt down next to another bed, sheets also strewn over the body, Tiffany's little hand shaking the bare arm of her older sister.

"Laura..." She whispered, shaking the arm lightly, getting only incoherent mumbles.

"Laura..." She said with a little more urgency, again shaking the arm a little more vigorously. Laura groaned, rubbing her eyes with the arm Tiffany had her hands wrapped around not a second ago.

"Tiff...it's the middle o'the night, go back to sleep." Laura grumbled, attempting to pull the sheets over her face, only to have sweat drip and dampen it. Tiffany bit her bottom lip again, out of habit. Again she shook Laura's arm, only a little sharper as almost urgency.

"Tiffany go back to _bed_." Laura ordered harshly, but remained in whisper form as waking any boys up was always a bad thing to do. Tiffany flinched back slightly, the tone reminding her way too much of Papa's. The cold brown eyes luckily still held empathy, and thus Laura sighed and calmed her vocal chords.

"I'm sorry Tiff, I just, I haven't been sleeping well and I'm exhausted." Laura apologised, sitting up, rubbing her eyes roughly before ushering Tiffany to sit next to her. Tiffany instantly hauled her small body onto the bed as Laura wrapped her arms around her shoulders, pulling her close, which only radiated more heat.

"I'm sorry for waking you up...it's just too hot." Tiffany mumbled into Laura's breasts, the drawl confirming the tiredness created from the staggering heat. Laura huffed a laugh into Tiffany's blonde hair, using one hand to brush against a few strands.

"I know Tiff...come on, I know how to make it cooler." Laura ushered with fake enthusiasm, gently pulling herself off the bed. She stretched her arms above her head, her pants and tank top stick to her body. With a gargled groan, she stared at her twin brother, how he snored so that even God above could hear him.

"You're a real dick, you know that?" Laura sighed sarcastically, her twin, Nathaniel barely covering his private parts. Sometimes, she wondered whether a blunt knife to said private parts would stop the sexist comments that escaped his mouth. That was just a fantasy, sexism was a way of life in the farmhouse.

"Come on Tiff, this way." Laura yawned, Tiffany hastily stumbling to her side as they walked hand in hand out of the room and down the hall. Tiffany was practically rubbing against Laura's side as their footsteps tiptoed down the staircase and entered the kitchen/dinning room, the wooden floorboards actually quieter now Laura walked beside little Tiffany.

"Where are we going?" Tiffany asked in innocent curiosity, looking up to see that Laura's face was simply a mask, eyes as vigilant as Papa's when he was outside working. Tiffany never understood why, or why she was never allowed outside, or why Laura was the only person who even listened when she said something.

"Outside on the porch." Laura answered blankly, but heaved as if she was very angry, gripping Tiffany's shoulder tightly.

"But Papa said that outside was out o' bounds." Tiffany questioned, more confused and curious than before.

"Papa says a lot o' things, doesn't mean he's always right." Laura huffed to which Tiffany didn't answer anymore questions. Laura guided Tiffany towards the front door, frail white from the amount of times Laura, Nathaniel, or Papa slammed it closed, there actually being a few eroded dents from the impact it made on the frame.

That door had seen and been part of a lot of drama and disagreements, taking the _walls hear all_ to a whole new level in the Dolton household.

Laura pushed it open gently for once, the heavy downpour much louder, the night sky even darker than usual. The porch was shrouded from the rain, thankfully, so the two girls found themselves sitting on a metal bench propped up against the wall beside the front door, the pattern stained, grey metallic pipes appearing under the flaking white.

"Feel cooler now?" Laura asked as the two slumped onto the bench, Tiffany smiling a little as she looked up at the sky. There were no stars, no powerful light, just the darkness that hid most of the farm. Tiffany didn't need to see it, she knew the layout from the moment Mama had first taken her outside onto the porch when she was a few days old.

"Laura...nobody ever talks about Mom." Tiffany stated slowly, ignoring Laura's question as the sudden thought of their Mama popped into her naive head. Laura stared at her, how her legs barely touched the decked flooring, how she never met her gaze as she stared mesmerised at the abysmal sky.

Laura remained silent, licking her lips as her eyes rested on the sky too.

"You and Papa were arguing this mornin'...Mama was mentioned...Did she really die because of me?" Tiffany asked slowly, her childish squeak making the question all the worse as Laura squeezed her eyes shut. She was trying not to cry, not one tear, that was the one order her Mama had ever given her:

Don't cry, for Tiffany's sake.

"Mom...Mom died because Papa wasn't there. No-one was there. Except me. Yer gotta understand that I was eight when you came along, I didn't know childbirth, hell, Nathaniel still had me believing that sex was them chasing a mouse around the bedroom." Laura chuckled hollowly, remembering when naive and innocence was the most natural way of denial.

"You're too young, to know this stuff I mean, but I guess that doesn't matter now." Laura sighed, leaning forward so that her elbows rested on her knees, eyes transfixed on the heavy raindrops that spilled onto the grass, creating the worst kind of squelching mud.

"I was downstairs, making dinner, and I suddenly heard this, um...this high-pitched, in pain, screaming. I remember being so shocked that I broke one o' Mama's special plates, the ones with the posh ribbons on 'em. I raced upstairs, and found her, found her just lying there in the middle of the hallway, clutching her round stomach. I froze. I didn't know what to do. But, um, she saw me, and told me to grab these things that would help...look the point is I heed Mom give birth to you, helped you survive, and when she died, I promised her and you. I promised I would make sure nothing ever hurt you, ever, be it a stranger or Nathaniel, or Dad. I promised...I would never leave you." Laura spoke forcefully, sucking in the tears that were threatening to spill out of her chocolate eyes.

Tiffany was already in tears, sobbing into Laura's chest as she pulled her close, buried into her chest.

"Hey, hey, hey. Come on now, stop that cryin'. Me and you, we're Dolton girls; we are gonna protect this house, our home, from those..." Laura stopped, or more, _choked_. She heard groaning, and not from Nathaniel upstairs, or Tiffany. It was a groan that was shared out amongst multiple owners, all coming from the darkness behind the veil of water.

"Tiff...get inside, _now_."

* * *

**Please tell me what you think, maybe I'll add more, maybe I won't, with this I really don't know. Anyway, please review if you would like to see more, thank you!**

**~GothGirlStrikesAgain**


	2. When The World Is Against You

**wow... thank you for the amazing first response of this story, really didn't expect it!  
**

**But really, thank you, and thank you to Mustachio10001 for being the first reviewer!**

**This will carry on throughout the show, starting off before the pilot. **

**Disclaimer: I only own ocs**

**with that done, on with the chapter...**

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_I ran away today, ran from the noise, ran away_

_Don't wanna go back to that place, but don't have_

_no choice, no way_

_It ain't easy growin up in World War III_

_Never knowin what love could be, well I've seen_

_I don't want love to destroy me like it did my family _

_P!nk ~ Family Portrait_

* * *

(Two weeks later)

The little brown hare hopped about on the forest floor. The dried out rusty-coloured leaves rustled and shattered under its petite paws. Black eyes scoured the ground, only focused on finding food, the energy to survive. Nothing else mattered to the little brain inside its cranium, food and reproduction were the only electric pulses.

Survival.

The little brown hare slowed, eyeing up a group of tasty crimson berries, they looked appetising and full of delicious goodness.

The hare didn't care about flavour and beauty.

Only survival.

It remained vigilant, cautiously edging towards the group of berries at the base of a tree trunk, keeping one eye out for danger in the thicket of the dense forest.

It was early morning, that odd time when the sun began to get to its hottest, and yet, not so cold like the night time. That odd time was the best for the animals, not so cold that every movement sent a chill through their bloodstream, but not so hot that sweat collected like a dampened extra layer.

The hare was close enough to sniff the tantalising berries, whiskers twitching, the large ears also twitching identically. It sniffed the glorious red berries as they shimmered from the beating suns' reflection.

They were wrong.

Before the hare could even contemplate to bolt, an arrow plunged straight into one black eye (ironically the one keeping guard), the ooze popping around the tip, the end highlighted with neon orange. The hare fell with a pathetic thud onto the cracking leaves, the berries were not what was wrong with the surrounding area.

A man around mid-thirties huffed about six metres away, hidden behind willowing branches with green shrubbery acting as extra cover. As a simple description, a biker redneck would be suitable. Cut off denim jacket and T-shirt dirtied with mud, sweat, blood...and any other substance known in the world. The messy hair and scraggly beard fitted the grumpy _how it is_ aura.

However, it wasn't the man that fired.

A teen, close to twenties, crouched a little further in front of him, face hidden behind a metallic crossbow. Her clothes were just as simplistic, only a black leather jacket, grey tank top, baggy combat trousers and boots fitted her thin frame, this thinness more hunger than athletic. There was no time for laziness in the changing world.

"Yer got a problem with my skills, Wolverine?" The teen asked sarcastically, the southern accent deep as she tilted the crossbow down, smirking as she saw the arrow hit its mark. She had little doubt anyway, hunting was a way of life before the world went to hell.

"Nah I don't pipsqueak...I've got a problem with your cockiness though." He grumbled, only to have the teen snort.

"Can't handle someone like you then?" She mimicked, twisting her head around to see he had his muscled arms crossed over his chest, eyes fixated on the dead hare.

"You ain't nothin' like me pipsqueak." He scoffed, the teen returning to a sour look as she stood up to go grab the hare. Only, he whistled quickly, enough to make her spin around and face him with an irritated expression. He stared at her for a while, mouth open in slight mockery. He shook his head and outstretched a grubby hand.

"Come on, one shot, that was the deal." He sighed, as if talking to a child as she tried to protest. But she quickly closed her mouth again, she knew it was useless against the grumpy redneck.

"Never pegged you as man of word Daryl." She huffed with a quirked eyebrow, slamming the crossbow into his hand. She turned around and stormed over to the hare as he chortled (gruffly) his retort.

"Ain't nothin' about man o' word...just don't need you firin' an arrow in yer foot."

"I'm not a kid Daryl, I can hunt, cook, clean. All you do his follow that scum o' a brother." She hissed, her tone harsh and loud, possibly too loud, but he had riled her up too much as she snatched the hare's legs and walked back with it dangling beside her. Only, she stopped abruptly as the crossbow was aimed at her forehead.

It was clearly a standoff, and as she had no weapon to counter except a blunt knife strapped to her belt, he already had the upper hand.

"Word o' advice, keep that trap of yours shut...might just save you from a messy situation." He seethed, mockery something she received often from the redneck. She kept an icy glare, but for once kept her mouth shut, trailing her tongue along her plaque-covered teeth.

"That's what I thought." He mumbled, lowering the crossbow with an almost drunken sway, but honestly, that wouldn't surprise her.

"Come on Pipsqueak, I ain't carryin' your sorry ass back to camp."

And with that, Daryl turned around and began walking back the way they had came, leaving Laura to glare loathingly at his back, the redneck brothers testing her self-control, even more than Ed.

"Redneck...punk...grumpy...son of bitch." She growled under her breath as she chased after the older man, not having much choice if she wanted to get back to camp before the light faded. It didn't take long to catch up with him, both in stealth mode, especially if they came across any...monsters.

She took the rear, always checking the sides or even behind if so much as a rustle echoed. They had to be cautious, or her anyway, Daryl didn't really show much care since he had a crossbow at the ready. What did she have to protect herself? One knife, one rather blunt knife that she snagged from a kitchen two weeks ago.

"Do you think Shane'll plan on movin' the group...when the others get back?" Laura asked to break the silence, well, the silence being noisy birds and the odd moan of a monster far away.

It wasn't until they reached a flowing stream that Daryl even acknowledge the question, a little grunt as he stepped across the small gap in the forest floor. She had to jump a little, not much, but enough to cause her weak legs to stumble. Weakness was never shown, ever, but even she knew that her body was brutally telling her she needed to _stop_ doing too much.

"That's if they do get back." He grumbled, picking up the pace a little once the stream fiasco was over, Daryl quite clearly hearing her little stumble.

"They will. They have Glenn, and as much as I hate to say it, Merle too." She said forcefully, though the second name caused bile to rise in her throat, the older Dixon brother by far the worst. Sadistic humour was worse than mockery, in her eyes anyway, Daryl wasn't exactly the most charming redneck but at least she could tolerate him to some extent.

And he was the only one that ever agreed to take her hunting. Even if he moaned on about her being a nuisance and a burden, he gave her one shot every time, miss or not, one shot was the deal. Her side of the deal...she stayed out of his way and kept quiet, even then he didn't do much if she broke the deal, except maybe the odd raise of the crossbow.

"Merle? Please. He'd feed them to the walkers for one bullet. Especially the n-" Daryl was about to say the word, but, was interrupted as Laura hissed in a tone similar to the one used by her Papa.

"You dare say it an' the walkers won't be the only thing ya'll have to watch yer back for!"

It was a poor choice of words, poor choice of tone...and blatantly a poor thing to say to a man with a short fuse and a crossbow. He turned around faster than she had ever seen, even with the walkers, but he didn't raise the crossbow, nor did he hit or slap her, he simply shoved the crossbow into her hands and raised his own.

"Go on then, shoot, yer got yourself a perfect chance so do it!" He dared, even taking a few steps closer so that the point of the crossbow was a mere centimetre from his chest. She huffed nervously, not expecting him to actually be serious about such a thing. The glaring competition lasted for a long time, neither refusing to back down.

But he wasn't going to force her to go that low, go so far off the rails to murder a living person. And he saw it, saw it in her chocolate brown eyes as they seemed glazed with a shine, even though at the centre they were duller than any lightbulb. She shook her head in disgrace and handed it back to him, he chuckled hollowly, taking the crossbow back in victory.

"Nah, knew you couldn't do it. See, cause you ain't got the balls to do it, unlike me, or Merle...even the Asian has got more balls than you. You wanna know what you do? You mope around the camp feelin' sorry for yerself cause Daddy ain't around to wipe yer sorry ass. The only reason I agreed to take you hunting was to give the rest of the group a break...even your own brother can't stand the sight of ya." He ranted, the crossbow being pointed in different directions as he spoke, clearly a habit. She stood there and took it, every word, the more he ranted the more she actually wished she'd taken the shot.

"Go to hell." She seethed hatefully, picking the fallen hare up and stomping past him, intentionally bumping into his shoulder as she did so, but in all honesty it probably hurt her more.

"You don't know a thing about me dickhead!" She screeched, agonising tears spilling down her face as she made her own way back to camp.

She needed the loneliness, she had never had it as she had grown up with Nathaniel, even then, Daryl was right that he couldn't stand the sight of her. But _Wolverine_ didn't know a thing about them, what they had been through to get to Atlanta to only find out it was overrun.

She sobbed as she walked, needing to just release it, even if for only a little while as the camp wasn't too far away. When she did eventually reach the outskirts of the forest, she wiped her eyes clean, though the puffy sting told her they were likely red raw. It didn't matter, she just had to dump the hare for Lori or one of the women to cook then to the tent where she could be alone.

She heard chatter as she reached the camp, Dale's RV her first sight which made her smile a little, Dale being one of the few men she found was more considerate to every angle of a situation. Carol and little Sophia were sat with Lori and Carl, the two children drawing, possibly, the two mothers chatting to each other over the watchful eyes of Shane and Ed.

Shane was checking the two were safe. Ed, he was someone to watch out for. Nonetheless she walked past everyone and dumped the hare with Jacqui who sat where the fires were usually placed.

"Daryl will have more, as usual, here ya go anyway." Laura sighed, trying her best to wear a smile as Jacqui was always saying morning to her, no matter what sombre mood the camp was in. As always, she took the hare graciously, likely wondering who was going to skin it, but Laura definitely wasn't doing that job.

"Every bit counts, thank you." She said in a chirpier tone, Laura feeling the strain around her lips from the moment of smiles. Either way, she mumbled her own thanks and carried on walking through the camp, Amy, Dale and Jim all over by the RV.

It was only when she spotted a familiar face did she stop. Nathaniel, he was with Tiffany, the two giggling outside their tent. Surely the sight would have made Laura feel happier, it didn't, the two giggling actually disgusting her so much that she stormed over to them.

"Hey, how can you sit there and laugh while there's work to be done?" Laura asked accusingly towards Nathaniel, who stopped giggling as soon as a sound escaped her mouth. His jaw tightened, his hunched over form standing straight again as he looked at his younger twin, her blazing eyes creating an even worse tension, because he couldn't put one foot out of line.

"We was just talkin' about the time Tiff climbed out of her cot and actually wrecked ma comic books. Figured we could all use some humour these days." He added the last part sourly, Laura just glaring at him as Tiff watched the two fearfully.

"Humour? The whole world has gone to shit and you're sittin' here talkin' about the past. We need to stay focused if we wanna survive...or does protecting Tiff not matter to you anymore?" She accused even more, the recent confrontation with Daryl sending her frustration into over drive, anyone in the line of fire having to say their prayers early.

"It does to me...does it to you?" He challenged, taking a step forward.

He had grown over the two weeks of the siblings alone against the walkers, he gained more muscles and experience alike. His long-sleeved once white T-shirt now a greying smear of mud and sweat, but it was his face that changed more than anything. His once short black hair now hung by both sides of his face, like veils, the length she had never seen on her twin brother before. When they were children, he never once dared to answer back to Papa, followed his orders to the letter, never once questioning them.

Now he questioned her, she hadn't been the same since the farmhouse was overrun, the night Papa got bit. Her short black hair fitting her oval face, eyes piercing even though they were a chocolate brown.

"_I_ was the one that got us out. _I_ was the one that got us to Atlanta. _I_ was the one that had to put a bullet in Papa's head while you stood there and did nothin'!" She screamed, slamming a finger at her chest at every _I_, just to prove the point further.

"I won't argue that you got us out o' there. But Dad, that...he pressured _me_ with the task of gettin' you girls out o' there in one piece. He said not to go back for him, I did what he wanted, you're the one who could never follow orders, always having to break 'em!" He challenged, purposely taking steps forwards as his own anger got the better of him.

What the two glaring twins didn't know, was that little Tiffany had grown up, hastily jumping to her feet.

"Stop it! Just stop it!" She screeched at the top of her young lungs as tears streamed down her face. The two twins hastily turned to her, eyes softening as they hated the sight of the youngest sibling crying, which unfortunately she did often.

"Papa said to stick together, to stay as family...not to argue with each other!" She continued to shout, eyes snapping between the two older teens.

"Papa taught Nathaniel how to hunt, Mama taught Laura how to cook, you taught each other how to fight. Me? You taught me that family makes us weak, makes us vulnerable. I'm not a child anymore...I don't need protecting!" She ended through sobs, shaking her head as she sprinted to Dale's RV, slamming the door shut as everyone else turned to look at the two twins chase after their sister like lost puppies.

Nathaniel slammed on the door, banging it over and over again as Laura held back, just watching, knowing little Tiffany was right.

"Just stop...she doesn't wanna speak to us so just let her be." Laura whispered, Nathaniel inhaling deeply before he turned around with blazing eyes.

"This was you. It's _always_ you. Just because you're a grumpy bitch everyone else has to be miserable." He snapped, storming past her, bumping into her shoulder so that ironic karma made her chuckle internally.

"You an' Dad are more alike than yer wish to be!"

Those were Nathaniel's final words as he disappeared into the other end of the camp, leaving Laura alone with the sun beating down on her, causing a sizzling heat. She didn't care, only coldness ran through her, as it always did.

"You want to talk?"

Laura looked up and gasped at the voice, this being Dale's, his ageing but kind face one she really needed to see as it held the littlest of comforting smiles. She bit her lip and shook her head. She didn't want to talk, not to anyone, family business was the same as the word, family.

"Okay, but could ya at least help me with fixing up the old gal? Mechanics might be something new you can learn." He offered, Laura looking over to Jim who stood by the grate of the RV, hands heavy with a box of Dale's tools, however, most of them were with Glenn in the city.

"Yeah...sure." She croaked, dropping her hands from her hips as she followed the white-haired and bearded old man, glad that not everyone saw her as the bitch she was.

Even as she thought this many heads were turned in her direction, mainly the children and Shane, so Laura kept her head bowed until she twisted around and faced the front of the RV in all it's glory. _Glory_ not exactly the best word for the forever-breaking vehicle.

Dale twitched his fingers over the tool box, picking one expertly as he looked inside the open grill, all the mechanics and parts rusted on the inside. Laura stood and watched, finding that learning mechanics was a good skill, one likely useful later on.

Survival. It was always about survival.

"Before you go biting my ear off, I'd like to say that I don't blame you for acting how...well...acting how you are with your brother and sister. We've all had it rough, these past few weeks, and you have every right to feel that having fun isn't the best thing right now. But people deal with things in different ways, and yours might be just as controversial as Nathaniel's or mine." Dale began the fatherly talk, hands and lower arms engulfed in the grill, the tinkering sound reaching Laura's ears like an irritating squeak.

"It's not about that. I just don't want Tiff thinkin' everything is safe, because it ain't, walkers could overrun us at every given moment. I just...I don't want to loose her, I don't want to loose anyone else, Papa was enough." Laura spoke with full honesty, Jim and Dale the pair which honesty didn't spread around camp unless they felt it needed to be.

"I know you want to protect her, but you can't twenty-four seven, no-one can. You gonna have to start trusting her to be careful, you're gonna have to accept that she's growing up Laura, same for Nathaniel." He continued, dumping the screwdriver back into the box with a loud thud as he grabbed another rather peculiar twisty object, something which she couldn't name at all.

"Nathaniel? He's the eldest, he's the one that has to pull his finger out of his ass." She said with hostility, one that Dale noted as he pulled a warning finger to waver in front of her face.

"Hey now. I think you've been hanging around with Daryl for too long." Dale commented with slightly bulged eyes, warning her not to get worked up again, because Dale was the type to talk nearly anybody out of a situation.

Laura scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest as she studied Dale's continuing tinkering.

"Daryl's just a no good redneck, just like his brother. Guess he reminds me o' Papa in that respect." She grumbled, the added bit forcing a sniffle out of her. Dale froze for a moment, before cautiously removing his hands out of the grill as not to cut himself, throwing the twisty object into the tool box so that he had his hands free to make movements as he spoke.

"As much as I don't like Daryl or Merle, they've supplied us with food. If not for them, we wouldn't be as good as we are now, granted, it's not the best situation, but it isn't the worst. And I may not have known your Dad, but I've heard what you, Nathaniel, and the little girl say about him. Maybe he wasn't perfect, but he was your father Laura, he was your family, and that means it's okay to be upset that he went the way he did." Dale spoke it as he saw it, which was a useful tool, but it didn't help Laura as much as he wanted it to.

She stood with glazed eyes, nodding her head a little as if agreeing with what he was saying, but she wasn't.

"You're right, yer didn't know him. He was a no good drunk, a terrible husband, a worse father. When Mama died he left me to take care of Tiff so that he could go huntin' with Nathaniel. I was nine years old and I was in charge of lookin' after a _baby_. And I promised her every day, I would never let anything bad happen to her, and I sure as hell ain't stoppin' now." She finished with a hiss, wiping her eyes with the jacket sleeve as she walked away from Dale and the silent Jim. Dale watched her go, sighing from exhaustion, but he was determined not to give up on the broken girl.

"She's a live wire. But she's got her heart in the right place, I'll give her that." Dale commented as Laura flicked the tent entrance open, disappearing inside just as the sun reached the peak of its immense heat.

"I'd be more worried about him doing something, than her." Jim finally spoke, also watching the teen walk away in a strop.

"Oh I think they're just as bad as each other. But they'll learn one day that they need each other, more so than ever." Dale sighed, before returning back to his work as Jacqui began skinning the hare Laura had shot, the work turning her stomach a little, but they had all seen worse than a skinned hare.

Seen worse by a long shot.

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**So what do you think? Laura is meant to be a not very liked character, but I don't know if she's coming off as a Mary Sue or not. Nathaniel, Tiff and the others will appear more, I kinda wanted to begin with the characters that will impact her the most first. **

**Sorry for the drama and speech-filled chapter, but it had to be done.**

**please review.**

**~Gothgirlstrikesagain **


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